South Korean researchers Tuesday launched an environmentally-friendly public transport system using a "recharging road" -- with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips.
The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, says OLEV needs a battery only one fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles and eliminates the need for major recharging.
It also avoids the need for overhead wires used to power conventional trams or trolley buses.
Guests including Seoul mayor Oh Se-Hoon and KAIST president Suh Nam-Pyo were given a 2.2-kilometre (1.4-mile) ride Tuesday around the zoo at Seoul Grand Park.
Recharging strips have been installed along around 400 metres (yards) of the route.
Pick-up equipment underneath OLEV collects power through non-contact magnetic charging from strips buried under the road surface. It then distributes the power either to drive the vehicle or for battery storage.
If the system is used on Seoul bus routes, underground power lines would have to be installed on only 20 percent of the route at places like bus stops, parking places and intersections, KAIST said in a statement.
The technology was first developed in a project involving the University of California (Berkeley) but KAIST said that produced no tangible results.
The state-funded institute says it has applied for more than 120 patents in connection with OLEV, which it describes as safe, clean and economical.
"Of all the world's electric vehicles, this is the most economical system," Suh told reporters.
"The operating cost is only about one third of ordinary electric vehicles."
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